I listened to a lot this year. Too much. Not enough. Here’s what I enjoyed the most. In no particular order.
Consider listening to any of them. Some of them. All of them. Judge these books by their covers: if you see cool album art, give it a listen. That’s how I discovered most of these.
You’ll find your next favorite album in this list.
Animal Collective – Live at 9:30 (Domino)
Anthony Naples – Body Pill (Text)
Balam Acab – Child Death (Self)
Battles – La Di Da Di (Warp)
Big Brave – Au De La (Southern Lord)
Björk – Vulnicura (One Little Indian)
Black Lizard – Solarize (Soliti)
Blanck Mass – Dumb Flesh (Sacred Bones)
Cole – Edging (Sweat Equity)
Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld – Never Were The Way She Was (Constellation)
Colleen – Captain of None (Thrill Jockey)
Darkstar – Foam Island (Warp)
Deantoni Parks – Technoself (Stones Throw)
Death Grips – The Powers That B (Third Worlds/Harvest)
Deerhoof – FEVER121614 (Polyvinyl)
Deradoorian – The Expanding Flower Planet (Anticon)
Desperate Journalist – Desperate Journalist (Minty Fresh)
Disappears – Irreal (Kranky)
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll (Dust-To-Digital)
Dråpe – Relax/Relapse (Riot Factory)
East India Youth – Culture of Volume (XL)
Fadimoutou Wallet Inamoud – Isswat (Sahelsounds)
Four Tet – Morning/Evening (Text)
Freddie Gibbs – Shadow of a Doubt (ESGN)
Girl Band – Holding Hands With Jamie (Rough Trade)
Gliss – Pale Reflection (kraftwööd)
Godspeed You Black Emperor – ‘Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress’ (Constellation)
HEALTH – DEATH MAGIC (Loma Vista)
Jenny Hval – Apocalypse, girl (Sacred Bones)
Jerusalem In My Heart – If He Dies, If If If If If If (Constellation)
Jerusalem In My Heart & Suuns – Suuns and Jerusalem In My Heart (Secretly Canadian)
JLin – Dark Energy (Planet Mu)
Jon Hopkins – Late Night Tales (LateNightTales)
Lightning Bolt – Fantasy Empire (Thrill Jockey)
Low – Ones and Sixes (Sub Pop)
Masayoshi Fujita – Apologues (Erased Tapes)
Mew – +/- (Play It Again Sam)
Micachu & the Shapes – Good Sad Happy Bad (Rough Trade)
Nils Frahm – Late Night Tales (LateNightTales)
Nils Frahm – Solo (Erased Tapes)
No Joy – More Faithful (Mexican Summer)
No Men – Don’t Think (self)
No Men – Needed (Young Cubs)
Noveller – Fantastic Planet (Fire)
Ólafur Arnalds & Alice Sara Ott – The Chopin Project (Mercury Classics)
Ought – Sun Coming Down (Constellation)
Pascal Comelade & The Limiñanas – Traité de guitarres triolectiques (Because Music)
Percussions – 2011 until 2014 (Text)
Pinkshinyultrablast – Everything Else Matters (Shelflife)
Punch Brothers – The Phosphorescent Blues (Nonesuch)
Pusha T – King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude (GOOD)
Screaming Females – Rose Mountain (Don Giovanni)
Sleaford Mods – Key Markets (Harbinger Sound)
Sunder – Sunder (Tee Pee)
Teeth of the Sea – Highly Deadly Black Tarantula (Rocket)
The Amazing – Picture You (Partisan)
The I.L.Y’s – I’ve Always Been Good At True Love (Third Worlds)
The Octopus Project – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter – Original Soundtrack (Robot High School)
YACHT – I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler (Downtown)
Young Fathers – White Men Are Black Men Too (Big Dada)
